Samsung is reportedly on track to complete the construction of its $17 billion semiconductor factory in Texas this year. Located in the city of Taylor in Williamson County, it is the company’s second chip manufacturing plant in the US. The other factory is also located in Texas (Austin, Travis County) and has been operational since 1996. The new site is about 25 kilometers away from the existing one.
Samsung announced the Taylor factory in November 2021. It chose the site after exploring many others across the US, including a new site in Austin. The construction of the factory began last year. In December 2022, the Korean media reported that the tech behemoth has placed equipment orders for building clean rooms at the location. Clean rooms are “clean rooms” where semiconductor manufacturing takes place. These enclosed spaces are free from any dirt and pollution. Atmospheric parameters such as pressure and temperature are also manually regulated to ensure optimal manufacturing conditions.
The latest update about the factory is that Samsung is motoring along nicely with its construction. In a recent Instagram post, the company’s co-CEO and the head of the chip business Kyung Kye-hyun said that the construction is on track. “The fab will be finished within this year and start producing the best products next year,” he wrote. An accompanying photo featured Williamson County Commissioners Court Judge Bill Gravell handing over the “Samsung Highway” road sign to Kyung. Samsung Highway is the new name of the road near the under-construction Taylor factory. The road was previously called Future County Road.
Samsung will manufacture advanced semiconductors in the new chip factory
Samsung plans to manufacture advanced semiconductor solutions in its upcoming factory in Taylor, Texas. The new site will churn out 5nm and smaller chips starting next year. The Korean company already seems to be losing the competition with TSMC in 3nm solutions despite beginning mass production several months early. It reportedly found it difficult to improve its yield rates in the early stages. The firm took the help of San Jose, California-based software company Silicon Frontline Technology to figure out a resolution.
However, Samsung seems to have already lost several big customers to TSMC, including Qualcomm and Tesla. The company is expecting its chip sales to get halved this year, with no significant improvements projected for next year. Time will tell whether a new factory will help Samsung gain some of the last customers. We should hear from the company once the Taylor plant is operational.